The aim of this exercise is to return the strum to its basic, simple, vanilla form, to make it easier to cultivate a steady strum. If you are playing or singing a song, a busy or interesting strum can distract the listener from the song itself, especially if one tends to speed up or slow down in the course of playing a song.

“Stardust” is a popular song composed in 1927 by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics added by Mitchell Parish in 1929. The “song about a song about love” played in an idiosyncratic melody in medium tempo, became an American standard and is one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century with over 1,500 recordings.